Editorial: Biggest of Hits, Worst of Misses, 2012

THE NEXT CHAPTER Santa Cruz restaurateurs Ed and June Hoffman knew they were in trouble, so they rolled the dice. Losing $20,000 a month, the couple, along with children Adam and Marie, agreed to let the Food Network show "Restaurant: Impossible" come in, assess the downtown eatery and remake it, all within 48 hours. The production, which aired last week, was painful to watch. Family infighting. Poor business decisions. And bland food. But the family might have righted the ship. Son Adam reports business at the revamped restaurant is up significantly. Family dynamics are tricky, and the Hoffmans deserve credit for tackling their problems [in a very public forum] and forging ahead. (Jan. 17)

STOW CASE ADVANCES, FINALLY Two Southern California men are headed to trial in connection with the brutal beating of Live Oak paramedic Bryan Stow. The lifelong Giants fan was jumped and beaten at the Dodgers-Giants home opener in Los Angeles in March 2011, but only now has a judge ruled there is sufficient evidence to move the case along. The 43-year-old father of two suffered a skull fracture and brain damage. He is expected to need care for the rest of his life. Justice cannot come fast enough in this case, which sparked a national debate about stadium security and fan violence. Stow and his family deserve closure. (June 12)

LADIES GONE WILD Give it up for the levee ladies! A small group of volunteer trash collectors called the Leveelies -- we're partial to the original Lovely Little Ladies Lifting Litter from the Levee -- has been prowling the San Lorenzo River levee from Gateway Plaza to the sea once a week since 2009, picking up all the trash they see. It's unfortunate the city does not have the resources to handle the job itself, but luckily these women have been picking up the slack. Since they started keeping records in December 2010, the women have collected 3,775 liquor bottles, 99 needles, 430 bags of trash, 14 bike frames, and 450 "thank yous" from walkers, runners, bikers and some of the homeless people who camp around the levee. (Oct. 16)

MOTOWN MOW-DOWN Few gave them a chance, not the baseball establishment, not the national media, and, in their heart of hearts, maybe not even the Detroit Tigers. Heck, we even had serious doubts along the way. But the San Francisco Giants believed in themselves, and today are 2012 World Series champions because of that. We offer up some raucous hoots today for the men in orange and black, who with a four-game sweep of vaunted Detroit showed the sports-loving world that San Francisco's 2010 title was no fluke -- and that teamwork, grit and selflessness are not dated concepts. Thanks for the memories and the great stories, 2012 Giants. (Oct. 29)

BIGGEST MISSES

APPLE CART UPSET California's public institutions of higher learning are in a heap of trouble, and the news just keeps getting worse. For middle-income California students, Harvard is now thousands of dollars cheaper than UC Santa Cruz. The same holds true when the cost of a Banana Slug education is matched against costs at most of the Ivy League schools and the nation's top private colleges and universities. The reason? Certainly the exploding tuition and fees in the California system are the main culprit, but also the generous financial aid that many private institutions are able to offer the children of middle-class families. If affordability is thrown out the window, what's the point of a public university system? (March 6)

SATURDAY SCARE The chances are slim. Hundreds of thousands of surfers, paddlers, kayakers and others take to the local waters every year for some ocean-driven fun, and only very rarely do any of them come face to snout with the feared great white, the world's largest predatory shark. But it does happen, with an 18-foot shark vs. 13-foot kayak showdown off Pleasure Point on Saturday the latest very local reminder of nature's pecking order. Fortunately, the only serious injury was to the kayaker's psyche -- forgetting the punctured plastic hull for a moment -- and our guess is that the paddler will be back in the water before long. We get it, Mr. White, we get it. You're the only real local in the lineup. Now just please move along ... (July 10)

CHIEF RESIGNS -- AND WITH GOOD REASON File this one under "What in the world was he thinking?" Gilroy interim Fire Chief Roger Bloom resigned last week after news broke that he was ticketed for furnishing alcohol to a minor outside a Pleasure Point liquor store a few days earlier. Gilroy city officials said Bloom was "very sorry, very remorseful and very disappointed in himself." We hope so. Underage drinking is a problem in Santa Cruz County, often because minors drink and drive. You'd think that a fire chief, whose firefighters are often the first ones on the scenes of some horrible accidents caused by drunken drivers, would get the connection. (Sept. 18)

Hollow holiday Has there ever been a more hollow statement of priorities than lining up for Black Friday sales a day early, thereby forgoing Thanksgiving? If shoppers are demanding to empty their wallets on more TV sets, gadgets and that "cute little top" on a holiday, then rest assured, merchants will be there to meet the demand. But doesn't it seem like something has gone a little thankless, and joyless, when families split apart on this most mellow of holidays just to ... buy more stuff? (Nov. 26)